


Yeonjun versus the Girl in a Coma

by ElizabethBasil



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Anti-Bromance, Best Friends Choi Soobin & Choi Yeonjun, Bighit, Boys Being Boys, Bromance, Car Accident, Coma, F/M, Femme Fatale, Fluff, Heart-to-Heart, Heartbreak, Heartbreaking, Heartwarming, Hospitals, Love Triangles, Lowercase, Moving On, Peer Pressure, Pining Choi Yeonjun, Pre-Debut Soobin, Pre-Debut Taehyun, Pre-Debut Yeonjun, Short Chapters, Short Story, Soft Choi Yeonjun, Unrequited, Unrequited Love, Whipped Choi Yeonjun, kpop, letting go, young adult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:20:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29298054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizabethBasil/pseuds/ElizabethBasil
Summary: choi yeonjun always falls in love with girls who don't want him. and girls he doesn't want always fall in love with him. kwon yeonwoo was no different - then she got hit by a truck. that shouldn't make any difference, but there still is some unfinished business between the two before either of them can truly let go.nunchi = "eye measure" (the ability to sense the mood/feeling of those around)
Relationships: Choi Yeonjun & Original Female Character(s), Choi Yeonjun/Original Female Character(s)





	1. 12.5%

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there! First of all, thanks for reading my story! I'd really appreciate any sort of feedback, so please leave me a thought in the comments below.  
> This story was also published on Wattpad in 2019, under the name NUNCHI. You may check it out there as well: https://www.wattpad.com/story/133507562-nunchi-yeonjun

yeonjun never believed in the saying: _love is blind_. infatuation may be, but love never. random happy-go-on-dates-lucky stuff was blind, when people didn't really care and love wasn't truly love. but when one saw all the flaws and the masks and the secrets, and still found themselves drawn towards that individual, then that was the real deal.

nobody else seemed to understand that. she didn't seem either. kwon yeonwoo. she was another name on the list of girls whose hearts he had to break. he was in the damned habit of not loving back whichever poor unfortunate girl soul who had had the misfortune to fall in love with him.

just like how the girls he had taken a liking to never reciprocated.

when he was a freshman, sana pretended she didn't know him when he'd finally his courage to as her out. he had even bought her flowers. and God only knew how hard it had been to bait, beg, blackmail her best friend into telling him sana liked tulips.

next, he was a sophomore and yet hyejin looked down at him like one would look at a three-year-old doing something stupid, despite the fact she was younger than him by a good half of a year.  
  


then, he was a junior and soojung told him he wouldn't date him even if they were the last two people on earth, after which she got together with kai. they were friends and into the same girl at the same time. not that he held a grudge or anything. people deserved to be happy and each had a time to be happy. his hadn't come. theirs had at that point. (for a few months only, but whatever).

and, finally, he became a senior.

they called her malina, instead of her korean name. she liked it better. she had uncles or something in the us and boasted about going abroad and joining the hollywoodian stage. bold, confident and gorgeous, she'd easily caught his eye.

however, beside her snow-white appearance, hair black as ebony, lips red as blood and skin white as snow, her reputation was something hard to overlook - for him, their high school and half the city. the girl was dangerous. she'd dug graves, broke people up, made her way up through society, like the _femme fatale_ she aspired to be.

or so the rumors said. yeonjun hated to believe them, but couldn't ignore them either. apart from that, he'd been around her and knew her and knew her capable of so many of the bad things the voices said behind her back. not that she cared very much anyways. but then again, he knew better than to define people based on past choices.

she had a history, she had a bad reputation, she was dangerous. but that made her so intriguing and so damn more gorgeous.

if only she didn't look at him like hyejin had, like he were some lost cute puppy that sang rather than barked.

at the other end of the feminine spectrum, there were girls like kwon yeonwoo, who may have deserved more from life than falling in love with him. he was like under a curse, doomed, and they were going down like him.

some of them never came to proclaim their undying love, but he had figured it. most weren't that good at hiding it. the smiles, the widened eyes, the sudden glow up in appearance. he'd have to be really stupid not to notice those small things and how they came together as evidence for the obvious verdict.

and there was the other category, of those verbalizing - to the extent of each's capacity - what they were feeling. he certainly admired their courage and resolve, though they were harder to deal with. once he'd told one that _it wasn't their time, it wasn't their place_ , omitting that he couldn't see those ever arriving. with another he'd been harsher, the _i don't reciprocate and don't think i ever will, sorry but not really sorry_ kind of harsh, despite having been classmates with the hopeful young lady since primary school. funnily enough, with her, he'd managed to remain friends.

and then there came yeonwoo. she'd started liking him back when he was a junior and all the way through his senior year. and they had yet to sort things out. he'd already started hating himself for wasting her time.

he had to focus on something else, to take his mind off the guilt. a part of him also wondered whether sana, hyejin, soojung or malina had ever felt bad about never giving him a real chance. he wasn't going to ever receive an answer, however. maybe all those girls were wondering the same thing. he couldn't tell.

not even to his own questions could he give answers, let alone others'. he hoped, though, that they knew it was better to end stories at the proper moment, rather than keep adding useless chapters. if only he followed this advice himself.


	2. 25%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thanks for checking out this new chapter! Please leave me some feedback in the comment section below; it'd literally mean the world to me.  
> Also, you can also check this story on Wattpad, published under the title NUNCHI. Here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/133507562-nunchi-yeonjun

oh great! everyone was now expecting him to become a star. he had less than a semester left before the incredible high school experience was over and the last thing he ever wanted was to get his life even more complicated than it already was.

why did they give him such a high mark on the latest exam?

he caught his breath and reached for the water bottle in his backpack. putting it to his lips, he only stopped drinking to breathe again. all he did today was sing his lungs out till they started burning, working on his stamina, which wasn't something he hadn't done a considerable amount of times before but it sure as hell tired him more than usual.

he might as well have run one hundred and thirty-four laps of a stadium.

his head jerked to the left when the door closed with a thud in that direction. coach han was slowly walking towards him. "how's it going, choi? good work from what i've seen." he patted the boy's shoulder.

"thank you, sir. could've been better."

"that always applied, son."

yeonjun nodded, the corners of his. mouth tugging upwards in a shy grin. "true that. i was just done for today."

the boy sipped once more on his water and stood to go. a moment later, just before he got going, his phone beeped in the pocket of his jeans. taking his, he ran his fingers on the luminous screen, then hissed something only he could hear.

"anything wrong?" coach han asked.

a sigh escaped the highschooler's lips. "nothing. our car broke down and dad was telling me to catch a bus to get home. see you around, coach" his hair was damp with sweat as he ran a hand through it; mental note to cut it shorter when he had time. if he ever had time.

"aren't you living in bundanggu too? let me drive you."

yeonjun's hand rose and rubbed the back of his neck. his head lowered, he replied, "i can't bother you, sir. it's okay for me to take the bus."

"it's nothing. you're a good kid, choi, our school's pride. it's the least i can do."

yeonjun lowered his head further, his heart uneasy at the compliment. the school's pride wasn't his favorite thing to be, and it kind of bothered him - that he was first a good reputation and, secondly only, a good guy. but he had grown too used to it to keep minding. "thank you, coach."

"only that," the man added, although a bit hesitant, "do you mind if i make a stop to the hospital? promise it'll only be five minutes. i don't want you to be late at home either." it wasn't the happiest of things, nor a thing he'd like to share.

yeonjun looked up at the vocal coach. "it's alright. thank you. visiting somebody?"

the teacher nodded.

"hope it's not something bad."

"coma."

at once, the boy's throat dried and smiles died from his face. "i'm sorry." a part of him condemned his own curiosity, whilst the other - the bigger part - was curiosity itself. "family? or friends?"

the man only sighed, his shoulders raising and dropping a moment later, as if he'd just sunk into himself. "no. it's actually a girl from our school. she was hit by a truck like a week or two ago and now she just won't wake up . her mom's desperate."

the boy recalled having heard the news on tv and the whispers between classrooms, but paid little to no attention to the details. he felt bad, of course, like anybody would when hearing of such tragedies, but it wasn't something to have caught his eye in any special way. "anybody i should know?"

coach han shrugged. "you tell me. her name's kwon yeonwoo."


	3. 37,5%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thanks for checking out this new chapter! Please leave me some feedback in the comment section below; it'd literally mean the world to me.  
> Also, you can also check this story on Wattpad, published under the title NUNCHI. Here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/133507562-nunchi-yeonjun

yeonjun released a long sigh.

"so you know her?" coach han asked again, seeing the face he made.

the boy grimaced, his eyes wide open and staring into the void, so many images showing before his very own eyes. she was one of the girls who liked him, one of those who he had yet to settle things with. but now there was little chance he ever could. a part of him rejoiced, feeling the burden on his shoulders ease, unchaining him of the responsibility of breaking her heart as to set her free. at the same time, it hurt. all stories left unfinished or finished imperfectly hurt.

and this wasn't one finished imperfectly, this was finished terribly.

actually, he'd hoped she'd find someone during summer break, but that didn't happen. instead, she got hit by a truck.

coach said no other thing and only showed yeonjun the way to his car, a small toyota that he's named lady gaga. which was as inappropriate as car naming could get. he started the engine and they got going. on the backseat, yeonjun noticed, were placed some flowers. a bouquet of gerberas, orange and yellow, obviously for the girl.

"flowers?"

"yeah, she was- no, is a good kid. deserves a small bit of appreciation."

yeonjun looked at him surprised. "why?" he didn't know her well enough, had never desired to know her well and things went south after learning she had a thing for him. he wouldn't randomly get involved to satisfy infatuations - however harsh that sounded. his teacher, however, seemed to care for the comatose girl, for reasons he may have understood had she ever meant anything to him.

"she's a good kid, nothing more. and i can't pretend i have forgotten about her, just because she's now connected to some monitors and machines. besides, crap happens anytime and anywhere. she wasn't doing that well at home either, from what i have heard. her dad's gone and her mother barely surviving."

"gone? he left them or what?"

coach han shook his head, his eyebrows twisted in a frown. "gone as in dead. some disease, years ago. hit them too hard."

those were news. and maybe even if he had known her well, he wouldn't have been aware of all that. he wouldn't want many people to know and many people to pity him, if it were him in her shoes. "i'm sorry for hear that."

"yeah, me too. and her mom, I can't even imagine what that woman is going through."

yeonjun's only answer was a quick nod.

"so yeah, the smallest support will matter."

another shock of the day was coach han. yeonjun had never perceived him as the caring time, the one who'd bring flowers to a comatose girl and support her mother. but that was a nice surprise. and it gave him hope regarding people.

yeonjun again nodded.

he then let his head down, trying not to think about yeonwoo. well, after months on trying, she finally succeeded in catching his attention, though it was wrong. it shouldn't have been this way. no tragedy should be the way it is, after all.

but then again... he felt sorry, but it wasn't as if he could do anything about it. nor could he change anything. and even if he could, him being sorry for her having been run over by a truck wouldn't make him want to turn back time and care for her, just to give her some beautiful memories before life half-ended for her.

it wouldn't have changed what happened. so, regrets were in orders, but feeling devastated would be disgusting from him. just as it would be coming from any random person in this world. the only thing to tie them was her attachment, her make-believe love story that never happened and yeonjun had a feeling never would. sigh after sigh, he still thought of her. ironically.

"you coming up?"

the boy raised his head only to see coach parking his car just across the street from the town's hospital. he hesitated before shaking his head. it was better if he didn't go. he didn't want to be untrue to himself and lying to her. the most he knew about her, about any girl, was that they didn't deserve convenient lying.

"alright. wait here."

yeonjun hesitated to that too. _smallest bit of appreciation_... with those words ringing in his ears, he made his mind and stood. and followed coach inside, still unable to comprehend why he should or why he was doing it, but still going.


	4. 50%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thanks for checking out this new chapter! Please leave me some feedback in the comment section below; it'd literally mean the world to me.  
> Also, you can also check this story on Wattpad, published under the title NUNCHI. Here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/133507562-nunchi-yeonjun

coach han entered first, whilst yeonjun still hesitated. all the millions of thoughts in his head were around the same topic, different versions of the same questions, even translations of those. _was he doing a good thing?_

wouldn't it hurt the girl - if she ever woke up - to know he only came to her out of pity? and out of his shameless discomfort, combined with the relief of lifting the burden of her feelings from his back? he sure as hell felt like the worst kind of asshole.

even before really entering, he could hear a machine or two beeping, a heart monitor giving hope in the most cruel way. like a quick promise of things getting better, despite no real assurance. yeonjun knew music, dance, rapping, not medicine, but even he could tell that there was still a long way before she'd ever be fine again. that if she ever woke up.

things could always go south, even worse when you were already on the edge of a knife. damn you, murphy - who wasn't really at fault himself. he only named the obvious.

through the door crack, he could see parts of the room, including the bed, a body covered by some white sheets, and, next to those, too many machines and wires connected to her. tubes, ivfs, vital signs monitors, the entire menu of medical equiptment.

he stepped closer and got a quick look of her face.

kwon yeonwoo which he knew had long black hair, rosy cheeks and lips of a nice shade of pink - which he'd never thought was the natural, but a thin layer of good lipstick. this kwon yeonwoo only had the same hair.

yeonjun didn't know whether this always happened to coma patients, but it seemed logical. the lack of colour in their cheeks, the pale lips, the shy heartbeats and breaths pushing the chest up and down lazily. it didn't take long for him to decide he hated that image.

no, they didn't look like peacefully sleeping. how could they? after having fallen out of this world, out of their bodies, fallen somewhere in the darkness where they had to search for some resolve to live and, once they had it - if they ever got it - to search for the door out, back into the light. that struggle couldn't be mirrored on the outside with a nice, calm face.

kwon yeonwoo was such a case.

she didn't look peaceful. she didn't look content. yeonjun could tell she would only live if she found what to live for through waves and breezes of cold darkness inside herself. the toughest of struggles. but, at least, things outside couldn't hurt her anymore - for now. his rejection was the last of her problems as for now.

a part of him felt selfish for wandering back to himself in his thoughts. but their _situation_ was the only thing tying them, the only thing making a difference from him randomly picking a hospital room and entering.

he swallowed hard, gathered his courage before finally stepping into the room. but barely half a moment late, all monitors lit up and started beeping, small sirens announcing a change in the patient's heart rate. slow and rare heartbeats turned into tachycardia.

yeonjun froze, moving only when a nurse pushed him from her way as she ran towards yeonwoo's bed. to stabilize her if she needed to. to keep her alive if she needed to. his throat died, his cheeks burnt red at what had just happened.

the nurse was a petite, tanned woman with greasy hair, dyed to a dirty blonde, despite the darker roots giving away their original appearance. she checked each and every monitor and tube until the electrocardiogram returned to a reassuring value.

"she's not crashing. she's fine for now," the nurse announced, much to everybody's relief.

"th-thank you," another voice uttered low enough for no one to hear when it cracked. looking at her and then at the half-alive girl on the bed, yeonjun saw enough similarities to figure it was her mother. sporting the same warm expression her daughter used to, ms. kwon would've been a good-looking woman hadn't her eyes been red with tears and her skin literally hanging off her cheekbones.

she must have not been eating well. staying with her daughter at all times. hoping for the best and being disappointed by each day without any improvement to her condition. cursing all trucks on earth and especially that one truck who had hit her daughter.

yeonjun remembered slightly about the news in the press. about how the driver had simply lost control over the wheel and over the tank he was driving, crashing onto the sidewalk. kwon yeonwoo was the only pedestrian around.

it hadn't run her over, but it hit her powerfully. under all those sheets, yeonjun could not tell how many bandages she had, nor how many broken bones, torn muscles, forever damages under them.

at that quick though, bile was already slowly gathering in his throat, threatening to come out. he swallowed hard and took another step into the room, closer to her bed.

"thank you for coming, coach han. it means a lot," ms. kwon said, when the man handed her the bouquet, which she set on a table in the opposite corner of the room. there was a vase there, with some other flowers - just as fresh ones. so that the only withering thing in the room was the girl herself.

yeonjun's fists clenched without him even realizing it.

"no worry, ms. kwon," coach replied before turning to glance at the boy, whose eyes had been fixed on the hospital bed and at the girl on it ever since he first stepped into the room. "this is choi yeonjun. he's a student of ours. hope you don't mind i brought him along."

the woman shook her head without an ounce of hesitation. "of course not," and then she turned to the boy, eyeing him curiously. there were wrinkles at the corners of her eyes - because she used to smile a lot. she _used_. in the centuries-ago past before tragedy struck her, struck her just as harsh as it did her daughter. "yeonjun? i've heard that name before. from yeonwoo."

yeonjun stiffened at once.

she had even told her mother about him. she must have really liked him. had yeonwoo lied saying they were friends, that they were close, or was her mom aware of her daughter having taken a liking to a boy named yeonjun?

"did you two know each other well?" the woman further inquired.

the nurse stepped between them - thankfully. "she's never reacted like that to anything before," she said - unthankfully. about that burden of her feelings on his back - it was still there, even heavier. unconscious as she was, she still liked him.

ms. kwon's head jerked towards the other woman. her eyes were sparkling, but yeonjun couldn't tell whether it was hope or another wave of tears forming at their corners and threatening to spill out. "is my daughter....," her voice cracked, "waking up?" her voice cracked again.

but the nurse could only shake her head. "i can't tell. we'll keep monitoring her."

"i see." a long sigh escaped yeonwoo's mom's lips, her renewed hopes deflated again.

yeonjun looked down, wondering what he would've answered hadn't the nurse interrupted their talk. could he have lied as to make the woman feel better, saying he had been friends with her daughter? or would he have been the decent man and told the truth, however harsh it was? who knew?

no answer was much better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was sort of emotional for me to write. I tried to do justice to a memory I had from the time my dad was in hospital. I was maybe 8 and a half, so I don't remember that much.   
> My style with this story was rather minimalist, since I wanted it to be a quick, quality read and not chunky or anything like that. Still, I hope I managed to insert the dread of seeing someone sick in a hospital room and feeling like a fish out of water.
> 
> Hope you like it! :))


	5. 62,5%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thanks for checking out this new chapter! Please leave me some feedback in the comment section below; it'd literally mean the world to me.  
> Also, you can also check this story on Wattpad, published under the title NUNCHI. Here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/133507562-nunchi-yeonjun

"i have nothing to do with kwon yeonwoo and kwon yeonwoo has nothing to do with me." there, yeonjun said it, yelled it out loud as soon as the door of his room closed behind him with a thud. the words had been on the tip of his tongue since he'd left the hospital. no, actually, ever since he ever laid eyes upon that girl connected to all those weird tubes, her heartbeats counted by some machine.

he wouldn't have wanted to hurt the mother, but it was the ugly truth. whichever way he chose to utter it, it still would've been wrong. the ugly truth or the fancy knife-twisting lie. besides, yeonjun care for the truth, cared for the facts, no matter how meaningless the situation.

good thing no one could hear him now as he kept repeating it to himself, believing it.

the boy threw himself on the bed and closed his eyes, trying to free his mind, but the image of the comatose girl just wouldn't leave him alone. she was nothing to him, so why would it bother him so much?

"choi yeonjun has nothing to do with her and she has nothing to do with choi yeonjun." great! now he was talking in third person. perhaps he kept saying it as to convince even himself that it was the truth. after all, the girl had been in love with him for a year or so before her accident and would have most likely continued hadn't it been for that damned truck. would have most likely continued, despite his prayers against it.

he'd always tried to behave nicely towards the girls he didn't like back, perhaps the way he would've wanted girl not returning his feelings behave to him. but let's face it: it'd always been a whole different thing when a guy was rejeted than he was rejecting a girl. it was somehow harder to take, yeonjun learnt it the hard way.

especially considering that no matter how strange, odd or an idiot a man could be, life was capable of finding him a girl - equally or more or less strange and odd and idiot, perhaps - to love him. that made parts of him wish he'd fallen in love with yeonwoo or any of the other girls that had come across him over the past few years, knowing he would've been well and happy by now. it would've been too easy.

no, it had to be sana and hyeji and jikyo and malina. it was like trying to drive a truck without being able to handle a bicycle.

gosh, no more trucks.

trucks led him to think back to yeonwoo - as if he'd ever stopped in the past few minutes. but from now on, trucks would always lead him to think of yeonwoo, much to his displeasure. much to his regret. perhaps he should've forced himself to fall in love with her and never get hurt by malina and also make the poor girl happy in the process. he would've at some point been happy too, right? and she would've gotten some nice few last weeks or even months before the truck hit, right?

gosh, that was so wrong.

but had kwon yeonwoo ever felt that or like that? surely. heightened and multiplied by considerable degrees. it was pressure, combined with the curiosity and the longing to feel loved.

if one thing remained true in this world over the course of the billions of years of its existence and development, it was that everybody wanted to be loved and wanted to love - themselves included. they wanted to love and be loved even by those who didn't love them.

yeonjun and yeonwoo were similar in that way. one thing in common, the first on a who-knew how long list...


	6. 75%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thanks for checking out this new chapter! Please leave me some feedback in the comment section below; it'd literally mean the world to me.  
> Also, you can also check this story on Wattpad, published under the title NUNCHI. Here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/133507562-nunchi-yeonjun

why on earth was she on his mind? when for God's sake kwon yeonwoo turned into _her_? just now, apparently, because only now did he finally acknowledge her. because only now did he - more unwillingly than not - start caring. much to his own awe and discomfort.

at the same time, life overall didn't change much, even after her accident. there still were people who loved aimlessly, people who were loved uselessly and people who combined the other two. malina was still there and he could only hope things would get better with her. or maybe the next girl liking him would actually be lovable enough for him to move on from his crush and perhaps even return feelings. so yeah, life had its ways to move on no matter what tragedies happened to some individuals.

the same thing was back at school. weeks ago, some would talk on the halls about a certain girl and a certain truck, back when he couldn't care less, let alone listen carefully to the news; but now, it felt as if nothing had happened. most topics were again about make-up and sports.

he'd roll his eyes up to the back of his head at both. school used to be bad, but now it felt worse, now with his mind on some comatose girl that half of the world had apparently forgotten. she'd never been popular or something, but she still existed and that should have mattered more.

only now could he understand what a kind gesture was coach going to the hospital the day before.

yeonjun made his way through the halls still struggling to care less than he did. his backpack hanging off his shoulder, the large, loose sweater making his body look like a shapeless mess, but he didn't mind.

and then there was malina: black shoulderless top with a ribbon of the same color on one side and a generous, yet decent cleavage, black and white pants tight on her butt and thighs, loose around the ankles, and shiny boots with a small heel. the make-up - eyeliner, mascara and a good amount of eye shadow - made him think of the night sky. her earrings were small black roses. she overall felt like a starless sky.

a hopeless sky, seemingly.

"what's up?" he asked.

"not much. i feel like skipping first period, wanna come?" she answered, a lilt in her voice.

he shook his head.

"one day, i'll get you to skip classes with me," she added, smiling that smile of hers - the one he couldn't quite describe or put into words.

he'd constantly tell himself: _world can keep mona lisa, i only need hers for life._

he actually wanted to go, but had an idea or two about where she could be going and who - what guys - would also come and preferred not to make a fool of himself, following her like the obedient puppy he could be.

she pinched his arm, bringing him back to the surface as he returned from his own thoughts. "you alright there?"

yeonjun shrugged. "yeah, just tired."

"been with anybody nice last night?" she raised her eyebrows repeatedly and laughed. "don't be shy and tell me, jun-ssi."

first of all - perfect, he now had a pet name. and secondly, innuendos just weren't his thing, especially not in that moment. maybe not ever. only that, ironically, he had indeed seen a girl the day before, but more than certainly not in the way malina implied.

she slapped his butt without wasting any more second to wait for an answer from him, laughed and got going, leaving him to watch her go. and that was malina, lovely as ever in his eyes. _beauty is in the eye of the beholder_ , they said. they were right.


	7. 87,5%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thanks for checking out this new chapter! Please leave me some feedback in the comment section below; it'd literally mean the world to me.  
> Also, you can also check this story on Wattpad, published under the title NUNCHI. Here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/133507562-nunchi-yeonjun

the next saturday, yeonjun was home, playing with his younger, smarter, better, but just as handsome - as he had himself declared - cousin, who was four and now visiting, as an excise not to do housejobs, despite his dad's insistente. at some point, his phone rang. it was soobin, his best friend, asking him to join him and... kang taehyun on a quick rock-climbing session.

that was something they normally did to kill time because, thankfully, most of the county was mountain side. and it was a nice and refreshing break from the screeches and the crowds in the city. considering how uneasy he'd been feeling the past few days, he more than welcomed that small adventure.

he said yes and within half an hour, they got going, with climbing shoes, harnesses which they borrowed from a friend who worked at mountain rescue, beer and soda, and everything else they needed.

something yeonjun has yet to understand was why was taehyun there. soobin and him had a years-long history, since before going to high school together, in which they were either ripping each other's necks or planning to make the world a better place together. actually, last time he checked, yeonjun thought they weren't on speaking terms; yet, he felt relieved they were friends once again.

on the other side, something was bothering the boy, but he wasn't ready to admit it was the fact that taehyun knew yeonwoo. actually, they were friends. close friends. and neighbors. all that since the beginning of time. so that whenever anybody tried picking on her for being chubby or for talking with a weird accent, which she really did, but he'd thought it was cute at times, a single glare from taehyun got them silent. he'd fought for her sake, only to fuel the already-going on rumors about them being more than friends, doing things that normal friends didn't - stupid stories that wouldn't have fit with yeonwoo's shy and good girl image.

yeonjun had believed them at some point too. just because one could never know what to expect from others.

taehyun wasn't as tall, but he was so darn well-bult, while soobin and yeonjun were limitedly broad and limitedly muscular. soobin had this slender body type that just threw him under the bus... _oops_... no, he didn't mean to...

gosh, there _she_ was again in his thoughts.

why it always had to be about _her_? he was getting tired of everything. living with the knowledge that she was hurting because of him, of him not liking her back, was one thing, but the aftermath of her accident putting on him too would be a whole other.

he was rock-climbing with one of the people who loved the girl. the universe had a twisted humor.

the actual climbing was great, like always. the aftermath not so much.

once they were done, they opened some beer and soda cans and things would have been just fine hadn't soobin unnecessarily opened his mouth. he was a good guy overall, but had the imbecile habit of thinking with his mouth, gossiping worse than bratty chicks from teen movies.

"so, yeonjun-ssi, how's yeonwoo?"

both yeonjun and taehyun's jaws dropped to the ground the very next moment. it took the former a moment to gather his words before replying, visibly uncomfortable, "why would i know?"

soobin had that habit, asking yeonjun about each and every girl that had taken a liking to him, just to mess with his poor friend and have a good laugh. but under what rock had he been living not to know about her current state? or maybe he knew and just wanted to twist a knife. in yeonjun as much as in taehyun.

maybe it was the same rock yeonjun himself had been under until last week.

soobin and taehyun exchanged glances, but neither seemed very sure about what was going on. thankfully, they were all smart enough not to push the matter further. for then.

only later, when they returned to town and soobin left, taehyun finally spoke. "you do know she's..." his voice half-broke, half-went down to barely audible, but still, it was hard to pronounce the words.

_half-dead. half-alive. comatose. not waking up._

yeonjun knew, of course he knew, but wanted to at least delay the inevitable, finding himself unable to stop it. starting a yet new discussion on the same topic was going to drive him mad. more kwon yeonwoo haunting him. great!

"yeonwoo," taehyun added, the word feeling so bitter now. it had once been like honey.

yeonjun moved his head in a sligh nod, his eyes down, analyzing the colour of his own shoes. "i found out a week ago. i've been to her, with coach han."

well, that sure as hell surprised taehyun, who raised his hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it. "you really did?" everybody, the girl's friend included, knew all too well that yeonjun didn't like her back, so it made little sense for him to visit her.

"coach wanted to go. i just followed him there," he explained, then hesitated on continuing, "it was weird, though. i couldn't watch it, seeing her like that. and all those machines started being the moment i entered. look, taehyun, you know how things were and still are between yeonwoo and me, but i'd still hate it if she died or something."

the other guy nodded. "i know. me too. but still, thank you. she's not awake, but it mattered for her."

"i wish it didn't."

"we both do."

"hope she wakes up and makes it not matter anymore," yeonjun added before turning around to leave. "see you around, then."

"go see her again, please. it wouldn't hurt." taehyun was heading the opposite direction already, as to make sure yeonjun couldn't turn around and reply in any way.

 _he's a good friend_ , yeonjun thought to himself, then kept going and headed home. it was good taehyun hadn't allowed him to answer to that suggestion; he would have had no idea what to say to it.


	8. 100%

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thanks for checking out this new chapter! Please leave me some feedback in the comment section below; it'd literally mean the world to me.  
> Also, you can also check this story on Wattpad, published under the title NUNCHI. Here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/story/133507562-nunchi-yeonjun

he was a big boy and he could solve his problems, for God's sake, without overthinking his whole life like those silly chicks in flicks did whenever they broke one damn nail.

choi yeonjun paused whichever movie he was watching on his laptop, closed whichever book he had on his nightstand, his hand already on his phone. he released a long sigh as the low noise of a number being dialled echoed in his ear. yet, she just wouldn't answer.

nor alexis zorbas dancing on the book's cover, nor dominic toretto's engine rearing on the laptop screen helped. like always, whenever yeonjun felt like it was time he sorted everything out, something had to happen. once, his dad had booked him a trip to some relatives. another time, soobin invited him rock-climbing and rock-climbing was above everything. but most of the time she wouldn't pick up, see the call and ask him about it the next day, only that his courage was already long gone.

he shoved his phone in the pocket of his jeans, reached for the car keys on the table and mae his way out of his neighbourhood.

all the way till he reached the destination he was sure he was heading to her house and see what she was doing, even though there was a 134% chance malina was out, somewhere, with anybody else but him. cool, older guys that normal people never really had the courage to talk to. no many how many hearts he broke or friends and enemies he made in their high school, even yeonjun had to gather strength to even shake hands with those. tattoos on both arms, piercing in their lips and ears, breath smelling of alcohol or even drugs, like in most american movies of questionable quality.

if you came to think of it, him wanting her wasn't even logical and he knew it very well. as if he cared. maybe for once, she'd want a good guy too.

the car door opened, then closed with a thud, and the boy found himself in the hospital's parking lot and not in front of malina's house, and from there he headed to a specific floor, to a specific room, to a specific bed and patient. if he couldn't sort things out with malina that evening, then he'd sort them out with yeonwoo. _the other her_.

when did kwon yeonwoo even become _the other her_ in his life? he never cared but he somehow started, he had to admit it. it was a pity, though. it happened mostly because of the tragedy she'd been caught it. alas, hadn't it been for that truck that nearly stole her life for her, he wouldn't have even acknowledged her as a memorable individual.

the girl's lovely mother was still there, the poor woman must've been spending all her time with her daughter. it was sad to see, and he considered turnign back as not to disturb anything, but something in him, an itch at the back of his head, told him to keep going.

"hello, ms. kwon."

the woman turned to him looking surprised. "oh, you're the boy who came with coach, aren't you? yeonjun?" somehow those didn't feel like real questions, as if the woman really knew everything. knew him and knew the truth.

he nodded his head.

"good to see you, dear. how are you?"

yeonjun slightly smiled, in return to the warmth in her eyes and in the embrace she'd given him. she was a good mother and a good woman. "i'm alright, thank you. i felt like coming here, ma'am, if i don't bother."

"of course you don't."

"thank you." he wasn't doing a splendid job talking politely to mothers whose children were in coma. to his credit however, who would know what to say? "how are you? and how's yeonwoo?"

the shadow of a sad smile forced its way on her face, making colour drain from her at once. "the usual. latest results came in this morning and some of them were... positive, i think. i don't understand all the medical terms, i do my best to but it's tough. we keep the hope, though," she answered and sighed, rubbing her newly-wrinkled forehead with both hands. "who's going to be optimistic about things if not me?"

nothing dawned upon him as proper reply to that.

thankfully, the woman continued herself, "you came to see yeonwoo, didn't you? can you please stay here for a few minutes while i'm getting a coffee from the machine in the hallway? if you want, of course." the woman was halfway out of the room already by the time she finished speaking. it must have been tiring, he realized. she loved her daughter and would continue doing anything possible to help and bring her back, but no one could dare deny it wasn't a big burden to wear, knowing your child - also your only one - was half-alive, perhaps more dead than alive. getting a coffee at the machine in the hallway was the only escape she had, the three and half minutes she needed to get some strength back.

"i don't mind," he finally replied, but to no ears as yeonwoo's mother had already exited the room.

those minutes was all he needed, really. the perfect amount of time he had to make a point to kwon yeonwoo. perhaps that was what he came for and the universe was throwing an opportunity at him, or more like in his face.

she still hadn't started crashing, so perhaps, indeed, that was the moment.

"this is going to sound so stupid. i'm talking to someone in a coma, but i know that deep within that body that is not moving and has a barely beating heart, there's you, yeonwoo. i think you're hearing this, from wherever you are."

a monitor beeped louder once. still safe.

he bit his lip and clenched his fists, before continuing, "i know you like me. i've known for a while, can't remember really when or how i learnt, but i did. and i think you were aware i figured it out."

it was the hardest rejection he had to deliver.  
  
  


"and i want you to know that i'm not sorry. i'm not sorry for not liking you back. liking, loving, they don't really depend on us. nor do they need a reason. they just happen or not happen. and it didn't happen with us. i must sound mean, but i can't protect you from the truth. just like no one could've protected you from that damned truck. i'm not sorry, because it's the truth and it's me being true to what i feel. the same me that now wishes you to wake the hell up and get your life back. one without me. we're kids still, and we're going to fall in love with hundreds before really getting to love someone."

the monitors beeped louder and louder each time, at which point yeonjun had already started wondering whether he was about to kill her, but he continued nonetheless. it was what he owed her.

"you too. i'm a name on a list. a list you'll throw away as soon as that guy for you appears. and, yeonwoo, it's not met. i know it. there's nothing wrong about it. i know everybody wants to be loved, you too, me too, but people also want to love. i want both. and you want both. and loving freely and unconditionally, that's really cool. i don't want to condition you. you don't condition me. alright?"

a part of him wished for an answer, but the other knew better. nobody was there to answer him. soon, the nurses came in and threw him out. kwon yeonwoo was having an attack, was nearly crashing and they were doing their best to do something about it and keep her alive.

was he really killing her with his rejection? were the ties so deep within that girl?

he wiped up tears he didn't know he was shedding, not for what he'd said, but for the girl whose barely beating heart he'd just broken, all too aware that she'd heard him. despite the ache inside her soul, she must've understood how he owed her the truth and not sugar-coated love words to wake her up. if a cold shower of ugly truth didn't do that, neither would rainbows and strawberry lollipops.

he wasn't sorry for settling things. at least with her he was able to do it.

yeonjun then left, unable to stay for the aftermath, whichever that was.

later that day, taehyun called. "yeonwoo's mom called," he started. "she told me you were there when she crashed again. i think we both know why it happened."

yeonjun replied nothing.

the voice on the phone was trembling, but he couldn't tell whether it was of sadness or joy. before he could get all the answers from the yeonwoo's brother-like best-friend, another call interrupted the conversation.

and it was her. malina. at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this! It means a lot. Don't forget to leave me a vote and a comment telling me whether you've enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> So that was it!!  
> I did think about continuing the story, but past this point it's a whole new deal. My story is about overcoming unfulfilled love, it's about delivering harsh truths only to remain true to what you feel. So past this point, it'd be a new story... which i may one day write, if anyone was interested.


	9. 112,5%

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonus chapter / Epilogue / The set up for something more?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You've reached the extra chapter. Wow! Thanks for reading so far!  
> Don't forget to leave me some feedback on the story, the writing and everything in between! It'd mean the world to me!
> 
> Also, this story is published (as NUNCHI) on Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/133507562-nunchi-yeonjun

his last image of yeonwoo was her crashing once again.

his first real image of her was of her crashing the first time he went to see her.

before that she had always been just a face in a crowd, a drop of water in a puddle in which he had stepped not because he'd wanted to, but because there was no way around it. little did he know that the puddle hid a hole in the street's concrete until his foot slipped into it and he just wouldn't be able to get up from it. that was her because she liked him. but so was he to her because he needed to be loved.

"what's up, man?" taehyun started, to which yeonjun only shrugged. half a moment and some hesitation later, he continued, "news goes fast. hope you know what you're doing there. she's a challenge."

yeonjun nodded with a slight grin. "i know." there it was. the look on taehyun's face, looking like the adult watching a child playing with a toy he couldn't quite understand and poet trying to prove the cauchy-buniakovsky-schwartz theorem. all that doubt slowly ate away at his confidence, not that he'd admit it.

"you know, i know malina too. yeonwoo knew her too." and there it was. yeonwoo. whom he had come not really to miss, but somehow to mind about, more unwillingly than not. unlike all the other girls, she kept making recurring appearances in the cheap drama of his life. not even as a comatose would she go away. "yeonwoo helped her pass biology last semester. they were still friends and still talking before the accident."

alright, he may have not known that, wouldn't have guessed it either, considering the two girls were polar opposites from a variety of points of view, but the information wasn't important. everybody was free to know anybody. "so what?"

"i just wish you'd made it earlier," taehyun answered only to receive a confused frown as response, after which he added, to clarify, "i wish she'd gotten into your pants and you in hers earlier."

at that point, yeonjun wished he hadn't stopped to talk to him. it took everything in him not to move from his place and punch some sense into the guy. yeonwoo's childhood best-friend would sure as hell do anything in his power to annoy him to the point he gave up and gave the girl a chance, right? because people could be low like that. even though they didn't look like it. it didn't even have to be yeonwoo's idea; it couldn't either considering she might as well not be alive anymore, for all yeonjun knew.

then taehyun continued, "hate me, i may be wrong and she may actually care about you like you care about her, but i really wish this thing between you and her happened before yeonwoo woke up. so she wouldn't hurt even more than she does. you can't believe how happy she was when we told her you visited twice, though she said she'd felt it. now it's just gonna break her heart further."

so she woke up. good.

yeonjun had his fists clenched and raised as if he was really ready to hit something. "look, it's great she woke up, but what the hell you want me to do? what the hell does she want me to do? not be with the girl i like, who has actually accepted being with me against all odds? would you, if it were you, taehyun?"

the other boy raised his shoulders, unable to put into words his obvious answer.

"i thought so," yeonjun continued, "now go tell yeonwoo to stop and move on. i'm not the prince charming she wants. i only pity her, not love her. i wish her to be well, but without me, just as well as i know i can be without her. and what's between me and malina, it's between me and her. and even if we were only interested in sleeping with each other, i still wouldn't give that up to play the genie fulfilling a sick girl's wish." he got all that out without much thinking. in many ways, it felt good, the lid of a champagne bottle popping off at last, and he breathed out relieved. in just as many ways, however, he hated himself for every single syllable of it.

"i'll get the message to her," taehyun told him, his head lowered. the words felt so bitter. in one quick move, the boy turned around on his heels and stomped the other way, without so much of a goodbye.

yeonjun raised his hands in exasperation, letting his feet wear him forward, trying to catch up with taehyun. catching his arm, yeonjun breathed in deeply before speaking. "don't tell her any of that. please."

"what then?"

"it's good she woke up. she should move on, though."

taehyun nodded without saying anything else. he turned his head away from the other boy, trying to hide the slight smile. only to fail.

which prompted yeonjun to ask, "what?"

"you care..."

"shut up," the reply came instantly, not in the way either of them could have expected. "i do, but not in the way you're hoping. i feel sorry for her, i wish it hadn't happened, i hate it had to be her." yeonjun realized his words only after he uttered, yet he decided it was at last time he made peace with the subject, and that there was no better way to put that into words.

taehyun kept looking at him with big eyes, but didn't dare interrupt him. this wasn't a furious outburst like earlier. this was his heart on a tray for taehyun to later deliver.

yeonjun continued, "i feel you are trying to make me like yeonwoo, forcedfully. i still don't, though, but should i ever come to like her, i just want it to happen, without you or anybody pushing me from behind." and with that, he was at last done explaining. that was it. how he felt and dang it felt good to let it out and be done with it.

yeonwoo woke up. good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a bonus chapter I wrote cause it was Yeonjun's birthday (in 2019) and I wanted to treat my Wattpad readers with something. Also, I don't know if this sets up the stage for a part two. Again, let me know whether you liked this story and would want it to continue.


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